Chapter 55 Armament Haki

Thud!

Ace kicked off a tree trunk, using the momentum to leap forward, and covered the distance to Luffy's side in a few swift bounds.

"Ace!" Luffy, currently hiding behind a tree, beamed with joy. "What are you doing here?"

"Would you believe me if I said I felt your distress signal all the way from over there?"

Ace tapped his chest, a grin just beginning to form on his lips, when he caught sight of two figures clashing fiercely in the distant mountain forest.

"Who is that guy?" Ace asked, stunned, unable to help drawing in a sharp breath. "So strong! He's actually going toe-to-toe with the old geezer?"

"Can't you tell? It's Big Brother Shano!"

"Him?"

Ace frowned, observing closely for a moment.

Indeed, he had grown much taller and significantly broader across the shoulders, but looking at his profile, it was unmistakably the same guy who had casually beaten him to a pulp with just a few punches and kicks last year.

"So he's gotten this strong!"

Gulp! Ace swallowed hard. Last year, getting knocked out had felt utterly humiliating, so he had trained like crazy for an entire year, planning to settle the score one day.

Now it seemed that was merely the result of the other guy holding back immensely. Even if Sabo were still alive, the three ASL brothers attacking together wouldn't be enough to withstand a single punch from him.

...

Boom!

Following Shano's fierce, sweeping roundhouse kick, Garp's massive frame slammed violently into the cliffside, sending a dull shockwave reverberating through the entire mountain.

"You little monster, you can actually change direction in mid-air multiple times!"

Garp laughed heartily, shaking off the dust and debris, his coarse knuckles cracking loudly. "You've mastered both *Soru* and *Geppo* to such a fluent degree. Just where on earth did you steal the Six Powers from?"

"Nobody taught me! It's all thanks to my own hard work and sweat!"

Shano laughed back. The old man was truly a good sport; after a brief exchange, he had unhesitatingly restricted his own strength and speed to roughly match Shano's level.

As a result, it had completely transformed into a duel of physical prowess and tactical reflexes, a hard-hitting clash of pure, formidable muscle.

For half an hour, it remained a relentless battle where every blow landed with bone-crunching impact, thoroughly exhilarating and satisfying.

The only pity was this stretch of forest; countless towering trees lay shattered and uprooted, leaving the ground in absolute ruins.

"No, this won't do. At this rate, we won't have a winner by sundown," Garp said, scratching his head. "Raising my power further wouldn't be quite fair to you, so how about we do this instead..."

Just as his voice trailed off, his right fist suddenly turned pitch-black, as if saturated with thick ink, while he flashed a grin at Shano up in the tree.

"Brat, you better watch out!"

*Oh crap, you're actually getting serious!*

Seeing Garp charge toward him, Shano's pupils contracted sharply. He stomped fiercely on the ground; the afterimage of his *Soru* seemed to linger in place as his true form instantly flashed behind Garp.

He opted for a preemptive strike, delivering a steady and vicious punch straight toward Garp's neck.

Yet, at the exact fraction of a second before Shano's fist brushed against the skin, the old man moved as if he had eyes in the back of his head, counter-grabbing Shano's wrist to execute a shoulder throw, while simultaneously driving his ink-dyed right fist savagely into Shano's chest!

Bang!

Shano's entire body was instantly sent flying backward, crashing into the ground like a cannonball. Spiderweb cracks rapidly splintered outward across the earth, spreading all the way to the feet of Ace and Luffy.

At the epicenter of the fractures, dust billowed into the air, and for a long while, there was no movement from within.

"Big Brother Shano!"

Startled by the sight, Luffy rushed over frantically, wanting to pull Shano up, while shouting angrily, "What are you doing, you old geezer?! How could you hit him so hard?!"

"Heh..." Garp landed on the ground, ignoring Luffy entirely as he fixed his gaze on the center of the dust cloud.

He refused to believe that the kid couldn't take that hit.

While the brat's strength and speed were indeed impressive, what had surprised him most throughout the fight was that astonishing physical resilience and defensive power.

His bones were practically made of iron. Several times, Garp had felt as though he was about to fracture them, only for Shano to shake his arm and quickly return to normal.

Not to mention that head of his—hard as a piece of refined steel. Before Armament Haki was applied, even Garp's fists would sting with a dull ache upon impact.

Fourteen years old... he was only fourteen years old!

The brat was only two years older than Ace, yet his strength was more than ten times greater.

Garp was almost regretting things now. Knowing this, he shouldn't have spoken with such absolute finality earlier.

He could have just forcibly abducted the kid and reasoned with him slowly afterward; letting such a brilliant sapling slip through his fingers was a terrible waste.

Forget a Navy Rear Admiral; looking at it now, once this kid reached adulthood, he would easily qualify to be a Headquarters Vice Admiral!

The dust gradually settled.

As expected, Shano merely shook his head and stood up as if nothing had happened.

Though blood stained the corner of his mouth and his chest was slightly caved in, his aura remained fierce and steady. When he raised his head, his gaze still burned with intense fighting spirit.

"That's cheating," Shano grinned. "Using Armament Haki is one thing, but you even threw in Observation Haki."

He touched his chest. The lingering, potent aura of Armament Haki left behind by Garp still seemed to pulse around the wound, clearly perceptible.

Shano closed his eyes to feel it for a moment, then greedily licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Again!"

He violently tore off his tattered upper garment, revealing a twisted, terrifying mass of muscle that, under the sunlight, cast a faint, metallic bronze luster.

"Whoa!!!" Luffy and Ace stared wide-eyed.

Amidst the two kids' astonished gazes, Shano slammed his foot down hard, riding *Geppo* into the sky above the forest, and drove a fierce punch straight toward Garp's head.

The force of the fist sheared through the air, creating a howling gale that whipped Garp's dog-eared cap back and forth, yet deep wrinkles of excitement bloomed across the old man's weathered face.

"Well-fought!"

He snapped half a step backward, his pitch-black right fist whipping upward in an afterimage like a heavy mallet crashing down.

Shano's pupils reflected that dark mass. He didn't dodge or evade, choosing instead to meet it head-on with his own fist!

Crack!

Compared to their previous evenly-matched exchanges, the potency of Garp's Armament Haki-coated fist instantly spiked, and Shano could actually hear the agonizing groan of his own bones under the strain.

Yet the numbness radiating from his finger bones felt increasingly searing, as though countless tiny ants were gnawing through his blood vessels down to the marrow, creating a sensation that was simultaneously painful and intoxicating.

"Hah, hah..."

He breathed heavily, but had no intention of quitting. Instead, driven by an insatiable hunger, he increased his pressure further, baring his teeth at Garp with a grin stretching to his ears.

"Give me your left fist too, old man!"

Before the words faded, his vacant left fist struck out without hesitation toward Garp's shoulder, and Garp let out a hearty laugh, countering with his own left fist.

"So greedy? I'll indulge you!"

BOOM!

The instant their fists collided, a shockwave burst outward, sweeping across the surroundings in every direction!

"Oh no, we're too close!"

Ace immediately clamped his arms tightly around the tree trunk, barely managing to avoid being blown away.

Luffy, panicked, hastily wound his arm into a spiral shape, dangling from Ace's leg, but his straw hat flew high into the air, spinning away to catch on a treetop, revealing his wide, round eyes beneath.

"My hat..."

Thud! Shano happened to be knocked backward, landing on a branch of that very tree. Spotting the straw hat nearby, he casually picked it up, making a motion to toss it to Luffy, but the moment it left his hand, the hat vanished completely without a trace.

"Look in my bag!"

He laughed loudly and charged at Garp once more.

Eh?

Luffy blinked in a daze, then suddenly realized what was happening and bolted toward the backpack Shano had discarded near a giant boulder. Yanking it open, he found the familiar straw hat resting safely inside.

"Whoa, the magic trick evolved! Even more amazing now!!!"

...

Listening to the loud, astonished shouting from below, Shano twitched the corner of his mouth, but didn't let it interrupt his rhythm as he clashed fists with Garp once again.

Blow after blow rained down like a relentless tempest, and within moments, they had traded over a hundred rounds.

By now, as Shano threw another punch, Garp could faintly detect a familiar, tyrannical aura bleeding through the force of the strike.

"Amazing comprehension."

Garp firmly grasped Shano's fist, halting any further advance, and narrowed his eyes. "I didn't expect you to sense the presence of Haki so quickly and already begin trying to attune yourself to it. The next step after that is trying to imbue it!"

"—Imbuing it into your body, or even your weapon! When you can make it clearly visible like smoke, amplifying the destructive power of every punch and kick, you can consider yourself to have just entered the door!"

"However, reaching that step requires some adaptive practice. I'm short on time and don't have the luxury of watching you figure it out slowly, so let's skip straight to the next phase. Listen up!"

"This second step! Based on imbuing, it's making that smoke-like Armament Haki condense and adhere like glue, obeying your will to massively reinforce a specific body part!"

His arms suddenly turned pitch-black. "Just like this!"

Bang!

A hard-as-iron elbow jerked upward, striking Shano in the face. With both fists occupied blocking Garp's, Shano couldn't dodge in time and could only watch helplessly as the elbow strike landed.

He let out a sharp cry and was sent flying backward, crashing directly into the rock face beneath the cliff.

After coughing violently for a long moment and spitting out a mouthful of blood, he finally caught his breath. Running a finger into his mouth to check, he felt something odd, reached in, and pulled out two teeth.

"I'm already past the age of losing baby teeth! How am I supposed to grow these back?!"

Shano stepped out of the crater, furious. "Old man, can't you aim properly? At least target my wisdom teeth!"

"Ignorant brat, a fourteen-year-old kid doesn't even have wisdom teeth!"

Garp scoffed dismissively. "See that? Being able to harden your body parts at will like I just did means you've reached the second step, and that's as far as I can teach you!"

"As for going any further..."

With a soft thud, he dropped from mid-air to the ground.

"Master the second step first. After that, you'll have to explore and forge your own path, heading in different directions depending on your personal needs or innate talents."

"For instance..."

Garp abruptly glanced sideways at Luffy.

"Some people focus on refining the concentration of their Armament Haki, wanting to pack every ounce of Haki they can command into a tiny area, like the tip of a bullet, to unleash terrifying lethality."

*Why are you looking at me?* Luffy wore a completely bewildered expression.

Shano, however, instantly realized Garp was referring to Red-Haired's First Mate, Benn Beckman—the man who, the moment he raised his gun barrel, could force even admirals to show some restraint.

"And then there are others."

Garp glared fiercely at Luffy before pulling his gaze back to continue.

"They pursue the ultimate defense of the entire body, terrified of leaving any blind spots, so they spread Armament Haki all over themselves to render the enemy completely helpless."

This time, the old man didn't offer an example.

Shano lowered his head and thought carefully for a moment.

He immediately thought of Donquixote Doflamingo's trusted subordinate—Vergo, the man sent to play the long game as a double agent, spending years climbing the ranks until he became the branch head of G-5.